The pressure inside one of the six Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs) at the Fukushima-Daiichi plant has built up because the cooling system was damaged by the earthquake. The heat produced by the nuclear reaction inside the core still needs to be dissipated even after a shutdown. If the outage in the cooling system persists, eventually radiation could leak out into the environment, and, in the worst case, could cause a reactor meltdown, experts say.
The Associated Press is also now citing Japanese nuclear safety agency officials as saying that radiation levels inside one of the reactors at the Fukushima-Daini nuclear power plant have surged to 1,000 times their normal levels after the cooling system failed. Pressure inside the reactor has risen to 1.5 times the level considered normal.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company has said radiation may already have been released at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant.
Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan has announced that residents living within 10km (6.2 miles) of the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear station must evacuate their homes, according to the Kyodo news agency. Engineers are trying to fix the cooling system of one of the plant's reactors, which was damaged by the earthquake. The authorities had earlier told some 3,000 residents living within 3km (1.9 miles) to leave.
Officials in Washington have said the US military has not provided any coolant to the nuclear plant in Japan. Earlier, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said US Air Force "assets" had been used to do so.
BBC
The Associated Press is also now citing Japanese nuclear safety agency officials as saying that radiation levels inside one of the reactors at the Fukushima-Daini nuclear power plant have surged to 1,000 times their normal levels after the cooling system failed. Pressure inside the reactor has risen to 1.5 times the level considered normal.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company has said radiation may already have been released at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant.
Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan has announced that residents living within 10km (6.2 miles) of the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear station must evacuate their homes, according to the Kyodo news agency. Engineers are trying to fix the cooling system of one of the plant's reactors, which was damaged by the earthquake. The authorities had earlier told some 3,000 residents living within 3km (1.9 miles) to leave.
Officials in Washington have said the US military has not provided any coolant to the nuclear plant in Japan. Earlier, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said US Air Force "assets" had been used to do so.
BBC
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